Spectral analysis of stationary solutions of the Cahn-Hilliard equation (Q1028508)

The author studies the bounded non-constant stationary solutions for the Cahn-Hilliard equation in \(\mathbb R\) \[ u_t=(M(u)(F'(u)-ku_{xx})_x)_x,\quad k>0,\;M\in C^2({\mathbb R}),\;F\in C^4({\mathbb R}). \] It is studied the spectrum of the linear operator obtained upon linearization about each type of stationary solutions: periodic solutions, pulse-type reversal solutions, monotonic transition waves. It is established linear stability for all transition waves, linear instability for all reversal waves, and linear instability for a representative class of periodic waves.